>> and what did you learn, lou snis. >> i learned that donny was a puppeteer. >> oh, lord. >> that's disturbing. happy thanksgiving and we will see you back here on friday. >> now stay tuned for "the daily rundown" in the capable hands of luke russert. 19 people are injured after a bus bomb explodes in tel aviv escalating tension and the weeklong conflict thought to be nearing a ceasefire. secretary of state hillary clinton is in cairo this morning working to make that peace happen. can egypt help bring an end to the fighting? and back at home, all eyes on the white house for a thanksgiving tradition. the presidential turkey pardon. get ready to gobble up the history of this bird watch. good morning from washington. it's wednesday, november 21st, 2012. this is "the daily rundown." i'm luke russert filling in for the great chuck todd.

a commuter bus exploded in central tel aviv injuring at least 19 people steps away from the national defense he headquarters. israeli police confirm that an explosive device detonated but say it was not a suicide attack. the white house is calling the attack against israeli civilians outrage o outrageous. the united kingdom is condemning the, quote, shocking violence. the eight-day conflict between israel and hamas has claimed the lives of more than 130 palestinians and five israelis. despite hopes of a ceasefire, tuesday ended as the conflict's deadliest day. secretary clinton who rushed to the region to try to prevent an escalation of the conflict is in cairo to meet with egyptian president mohamed morsi who is key to brokering any deal. it's her final stop on an emergency round of shuttle diplomacy that also include meetings in israel and the west bank. for the latest nbc's stephanie gosk joins us and ayman

mohyeldin. a report of a tel aviv bus explosion. is there any indication that the israelis now are looking at possibly having a short-term truce or want to hold out long er for a longer deal? >> reporter: well, we don't have a truce. there's a lot of talk yesterday that there would be one, and then this morning, today around lunch time this bus attack. and what we know about it so far is that they're saying it's a terrorist attack, it's not a suicide attack. we were down there earlier today and the security officials were very nervous. they were pushing us back. they thought maybe there were more explosives on the bus. it turned out there weren't. this tactic will be very familiar to people in this city and around israel. it was used about a decade ago frequently all over the kcountr during the second intefadeh but they haven't had an attack like this in israel since 2004 and there hasn't been a terrorist attack on the ground here in tel aviv since 2006. all of this happens amongst all

the feverish diplomatics back and forth and shuttling going on. it's going to make that process much more difficult especially when just after the blast you had a spokesman for hamas calling this a heroic attack. luke? >> stephanie, how close do we see israel being to having a ground invasion in gaza right now? >> reporter: well, it was interesting last night, luke, because there was a press conference where you had prime minister netanyahu along with secretary clinton and what netanyahu said is that they still want a diplomatic solution to this. and that's a key sign that the for example,s are still ongoing. and as long as that's the case, the troops will stay where they are. if it falls apart completely, you can probably expect a ground invasion soon after that. but right now israeli officials are still working towards that end. the defense minister telling israeli radio today that what they're looking for right out of the gate is a 24-hour period

where there are no rocket attacks out of gaza and into israel. luke? >> stephanie gosk from israel, thank you very much. let me go now to ayman mohyeldin. obviously hamas is celebrating this attack on the bus. what's the latest there on the ground and the thinking within the militants? obviously they intersect within the community from all the reports i've read, it seems that the morale is high over there. >> reporter: absolutely. you know, the statements that have been coming out of hamas' military wings are one of defiance, one of determination. they are still able to fire rockets. they say they have struck several targets inside israel according to hamas' propaganda machine, if you will. and at the same time, though, there are air strikes still taking place inside gaza. a short while ago there was one. palestinian health officials say the death toll of the eight days of fighting has reached 146 people. you talked about hamas celebrating the attack in israel. there have been claims of

responsibility by hamas and islamic jihad and their military wings. it's difficult to ascertain which one of those organizations, if either one, actually did -- actually was involved but for their domestic political consumption they always try and claim responsibility for these types of attacks. there's no doubt, though, that it is going to be in the eyes of the factions here a welcome sign as has been he can pressed by the organization's spokespeople. it is an indication the violence only threatens to worsen if this truce in egypt is not reached. luke? >> and, ayman, we're learning of new details concerning a link between iran and certain types of missile systems within gaza. what can you tell us about that? >> reporter: well, one of the things that has perplexed a lot of people, despite all the israeli attacks on gaza and hamas' infrastructure, hamas has been able to fire rockets reaching the outskirts of tel aviv and jerusalem. hamas has claimed it has developed a rocket it has called the five.

according to the revolutionary guard officials that technology was given to hamas by iran so there is now a direct link at least coming out of iran that they provided the know-how to build these types of long-range missil missiles. no doubt they have enjoyed a tremendous amount of financial, political, and material support from iran over the years. in fact, the speaker of iran's parliament has also called on arab countries to do the same, providing military and political and financial support to hamas to carry on this fight. >> thank you so much for joining us. a direct link between iran and gaza. i'm sure we'll be hearing more from that. stay safe. clinton's shuttle diplomacy is a test for u.s. influence in the region and a shift to direct engagement in the conflict by an administration which for most of the time has kept the issue at arms length. kristen welker is live at the white house where the president returned from asia. good morning to you, kristen. what is the latest we're hearing from the white house? obviously we know they're

condemning the attack on 0 the bus in tel aviv. what is their latest thinking in terms of what's happening on the ground in the middle east? >> reporter: good morning, luke. that explosion in israel could only be seen as a setback to this administration's efforts to try to help broker a ceasefire in the region. president obama sending secretary of state hillary clinton there to talk with leaders throughout the region. and really to try to add a sense of urgency and to nudge them towards a ceasefire, so this morning not only are they condemning the attack but this is clearly unwelcome news. jay carney released this statement earlier today saying these attacks against innocent israeli civilians are outrageous. the united states will stand with our israeli allies and p - provide whatever assistance is necessary to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of this attack. the united states reaffirms our unshakable commitment to security and our deep friendship and solidarity with the israeli people. secretary of state clinton has met with israeli prime minister

benjamin netanyahu as well as a leader of the palestinian authority, mahmoud abbas. she is sending a strong message that they should be de-escalating the violence and also the united states' commitment to israel. there is also a hope that her mere presence there, luke, will dissuade israelis from launching a ground attack. so i think that certainly this explosion is being seen as a setback as secretary of state hillary clinton prepares to meet with egypt's president, mohamed morsi. luke? >> kristen, the president does have a public event today. we're not sure if he'll comment directly about what's going on in the middle east but it's the annual turkey pardon at the white house. some turkeys are going to be saved by president obama's pen today? >> reporter: that's right. this is a thanksgiving tradition here at the white house. on a much lighter note. two turkeys, two very lucky birds, gobbler and cobbler will be pardoned today at the white house. they were raised by craig and nancy miller on their farm in

rockingham county, virginia. the two birds right now, luke, are apparently staying at the "w" hotel. not too bad. after they are pardoned today they will head to george washington's mt. vernon estate and garden. pretty nice life. this is a tradition that initially it was thought dated back to harry truman back in 1947. now, according to our nbc political team, truman did receive a bird but we think he may have eaten that turkey. we think that j fk was actually the first president to actually pardon a turkey back in 1963. luke? >> well, and i know of many turkeys who get bottle service at the "w" so it's an appropriate place. thank you for joining us. for 33 years republican presidential contenders have flocked to ames, iowa, to eat food on a stick and participate in a campaign ritual, the iowa straw poll. but now the state's republican

governor says the tradition has outlived its usefulness. just as a whole crop of 2016 wannabes are making their presidential ambitions known. nbc's deputy political editor dominick montenaro. the turkey pardon, jfk was the first president to save the birds, correct? >> well, he's the first one to pardon a thanksgiving turkey. lincoln is actually the first one to pardon a turkey in general. and that was a christmas turkey given to him to be eaten but his son took a liking to it, so they decided to keep him around. >> look at that. another abe lincoln story. abe lincoln is so hot right now in the news. let's talk a little bit about 2016. which we are all gearing towards now. iowa governor terry branstad said i think the straw poll has outlived its usefulness.

i think it's days are over. that angered the republican chairman a.j. spiker who said governor branstad is wrong. this is not a decision he will make anyway. it is a decision the party and the candidates will make. let's talk about this. obviously the last person to win the iowa straw poll was michele bachmann. >> it has not been a good indicator of success. will it really be gone or is it something that's just -- no matter what technology we have with twitter and facebook and everything else, it's so part of tradition. >> i found it surprising about terry branstad's comments. this is a fund-raiser for the state party. so that's why the state party chairman is so annoyed by this. one point about the history of the straw poll, it's the first organizational test and it's also something that we candidates, think tim pawlenty, he dropped out after that because he had made such a big deal of it. if the candidates want to participate, then they will. the other historical point on this is that it's not a great

predictor of who wins the caucuses but, until last time around where michele bachmann and ron paul finished first and second, it had been the case that since 1980 when they started this, that the top two, one of the top two finishers, did go on to win the straw poll, so it was a bit of an indicator, although the top person didn't necessarily go through. >> to some degree almost a microcosm of this fight within the gop between the establishment and the grassroots, sort of the establishment saying these things aren't going to work because the grassroots can manipulate them to their benefit. let's talk about who seems to be throwing their hat in there. some interesting comments from jeb bush jr., the son of jeb bush, former governor of florida, and rand paul. let's play this and we'll get you on the other side. >> your dad going to run for president? >> i don't know. no comment. i certainly hope so, but -- >> which is it? >> i don't know or no comment. >> i hope so. >> is there going be to be another paul for president campaign? is.

>> that's classified. i can't tell you that. you don't have clearance to hear that. i want to be part of the national debate. i think it's a little too soon to talk about who is going to run and who is not going to run. to tell you the truth, i don't know what will come. am i interested in thinking about that? yes. >> talk about a soul for the fight for the gop, rand paul versus jeb bush not to mention others trying to get in but we're starting to see two very different wings of the gop staking out ground. >> and i would say three, marco rubio out there, jeb bush who swatted down marco rubio's comments about the age of the earth, not knowing how old it was. and rand paul, he's running. let's just put it out there right now. the fact is when ron paul retired, the are torch of liberty was going to be passed to rand. everybody in iowa knows that he's going to be running. >> our political junkies are thankful of the jeb bush versus marco rubio. it's only 2012. >> hopefully a little time off.

>> happy thanksgiving. thanks for joining us. lawmakers are home for the holidays but that's not stopping the benghazi blame game. democratic congresswoman karen bass joins us next plus on the road again. you're looking at live pictures here of i-4 in orlando, the home of chuck todd. that critical corridor we talked so much about during the election. cars are moving pretty well there right now, pu how bad will the traffic trouble be for millions of holiday travelers? we'll show you where the worst part of it is. look ahead at the president's schedule. oh, let me guess --ou see this? more washington gridlock. no, it's worse -- look, our taxes are about to go up. not the taxes on our dividends though, right? that's a big part of our retirement. oh, no, it's dividends, too. the rate on our dividends would more than double.

but we depend on our dividends to help pay our bills. we worked hard to save. well, the president and congress have got to work together to stop this dividend tax hike. before it's too late.

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how do you say a person like susan rice is not qualified? you may not like her. i you may not like the administration. but don't say she's not qualified. she is the most qualified person that i'm sure any of you know, that the senators know. it is a shame that anytime something goes wrong they pick on women and minorities. >> come on now. >> i have a real issue with that. >> that was ohio congresswoman marcia fudge lashing out at the critics of u.n. ambassador susan rice suggesting their attacks are sexist and racist. standing right behind her was my next guest, california democratic congresswoman karen bass, who is also a member of the budget and foreign affairs committee. nice enough to wake up this early for us. good morning to you. >> thank you. thanks for having me on. good morning to you as well. >> obviously there is a lot

being talked about with susan rice. 97 colleagues wrote a letter to president obama urging him not necessarily to push her nomination forward if it were to come up for secretary of state. do you think that that letter is based on racism and sexism? >> i think there are multiple issues and probably not. and i do think the letter is interesting. we started circulating a letter, too, and within 24 hours got over 60 signatures. and when we get started again, i know we can go above that. it makes no sense to have signature gathering wars from the house when we have no say over the nomination but, you know, i think about it this way. our ambassador who is still the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. is in the middle of dealing with the gaza crisis, the crisis in syria, the crisis in iran, the crisis in the congo. she is still our u.s. representative. and, to me, this really compromises us and makes us look ridiculous, i believe internationally.

as far as i'm concerned, again, these are my colleagues on the other side of the aisle still recovering from november 6. the election is over. t petraeus spoke before the intelligence committees last week, you know. and one of the things he said was that her talking points were edited. the words terrorist and al qaeda were taken out for a couple of reasons. one, the intelligence was evolving and they didn't want to tip them off. we need to let this go. the fiscal cliff and jobs are far more important. >> and let's talk about the fiscal cliff and jobs. in your time in california you worked on in the state assembly, a state hit hard by a fiscal y crisis. >> i sure did. >> i want to talk to you about something you said in terms of medicare reform and medicaid. obviously republicans are saying, look, in exchange for any type of taxes going up, we want to see some real entitlement reform. you talk about cracking down on waste, fraud and abuse. is there enough revenue from waste, fraud and abuse and m

medicare to get the type of serious deficit reform needed to bring down the $16 trillion debt? >> well, you know, i think anytime you're talking about a deficit, there's two ways to bring it down, and i know you know this well. you're either going to raise revenue or have cuts, and i would continue to argue for a balanced approach which means i do think you can find savings in both programs. but what i'm concerned about is what the real agenda is and the real agenda, in my opinion, is to end medicare. i mean, that was certainly a big item in the presidential debate is changing medicare into a voucher program. so what i don't believe in is changing the fundamental structure where we break the guarantee to seniors that we've had in our country for decades. that i disagree with. finding savings, there are certainly ways to do that in both programs, but neither one is going to balance or is going to address the deficit without clearly raising revenue. >> an interesting thing has developed among some of your fellow members in the house, democratic caucus, peter welch

of vermont, if a deal is bad, that if it's too much taken from the entitlement side, that perhaps it's better to go over the fiscal cliff. get rid of the bush tax cuts once and for all and democrats can start from an even better negotiating position. do you support perhaps going over the fiscal cliff? >> i believe that at the end that won't happen. i think that would have very tough consequences because you know we're not just talking about the bush tax cuts but the alternative minimum tax, talking about payroll taxes. we're talking with about the fix. so there are several things that would hit taxpayers. what the president has proposed and what i support is reducing taxes on 98% of the u.s. public and that is reducing taxes -- or keeping the tax cut in place for those who make less than $250,000. you know and i know that what tends to happen in these situations is at the last minute

things get resolved. i don't think they will be resolved as big as tax reform, but i do believe we will resolve it and will not have to result in the united states going over the fiscal cliff. i think it would send a very dangerous significaal around th world, but it would also compromise our economy. >> and, quickly, there's a lot of speculation about what type of deal, what the deal will actually look like, talks perhaps coming to an agreement to have a mechanism in place that would have sizable deficit reduction and have sizable entitlement reform in 2013, a little bit now, a lot later. do you think it's possible in the lame duck to do a big deal or get a blueprint in place by january 1st? >> well, my best guess is, and it's just a guess, is that we have a blueprint and that we do make some changes. but that a commitment is made, not something as extreme as the sequester but a commitment is made for tax reform and other reforms that take place in 2013,

but that we do enough to get us through the end of the year. i don't think it will be a completely kicking the can down the road because we can't because as my good friend from vermont says, you know, everybody's taxes will go up. i can't see that happen. i really can't. >> representative karen bass from l.a. laker land, thanks so much for waking up early for us. happy thanksgiving. >> thanks for having me on, luke. same to you. >> take care. the 2016 speculation will tell you who is passing up a chance to run for office. we'll get to that in a bit. and bittersweet bankruptcy. a new development in the snack cake saga. the latest on the last-ditch effort to save the famous twinkies. the market rundown is next. first today's trivia question. how many members of congress lost their races for re-election in 2010 but won re-election in 2012? ♪

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on our radar this morning, a former governor rules out a return engagement. a bid to save twinkies fell short and the fed is making an arrest in one of the most profitable insider trading schemes in history. virginia democratic senator mark warner says he's not interested in running for his old job as governor in 2013. warner's decision seems to clear the democratic field for former dnc chair terry mcauliffe who already announced his plans to run for governor next year, perhaps treasury secretary, mark warner's future? we'll see. general john allen has returned to resume his duties on the war in afghanistan.

while the defense department investigates potentially inappropriate e-mails between allen and jill kelley. general allen had been in washington when the petraeus scandal broke more than a week ago. twinkies maker hostess heads to bankruptcy court after last minute talks with striking work ers broke down. the company that makes wonder bread and drakes cakes will ask to eliminate more than 18,000 jobs and closing the business after 82 years of production. and federal authorities have arrest arrested a former hedge fund manager charging him with making more than a quarter billion dollars in profits from what may be the most lucrative insider trading case of all time. now the case is also significant in that the trades involved the fund's founder billionaire and well-known man steven cohen. although federal authorities have not said whether cohen knew about the alleged insider information being used in the trading. federal reserve chairman ben

bernanke warned about going over the fiscal cliff tuesday saying it could pose a substantial threat to the economy. and we have brand-new weekly jobless numbers out this morning. how will wall street react? well, the opening bell is just ringing so let's get to the market rundown. cnbc's becky quick is here. thank you, becky, for joining us on this wednesday before thanksgiving. what do we know today? >> reporter: you know, luke, what you brought up about ben bernanke was really interesting because the market knows the s fiscal cliff was out there. that's what it's been reacting to. when bernanke spoke yesterday, it spooked the markets again. they know it's ut there but just the idea of it being brought up, people saying what a big deal it is reminds them once again this is a huge issue that has not yet been solved. this morning it looks like we are opening slightly weaker, down by maybe 20 points for the dow. a lot of things that people have been watching and waiting with congress out of session heading into the rest of the week, there is no real sense that any deal will be reached soon, but we know they're getting back next week and that's what the market

has been keying off of every single day. some economic numbers as you mentioned. usually we get the jobless claims on thursday. we get them today because of the holiday. claims came in at 410,000. that was a drop of 41,000 from the week before, but it's still an elevated level above 400,000 and you can thank superstorm sand sandy for that. sandy brought in all of these jobless claims and this is going to be something that's really going to wreak some havoc with the economic numbers over the next many months or so. you can expect these to continue to be in there affecting things like retail sales. as millions of americans are taking to the roads for the thanksgiving holiday, this is also a huge issue when it comes to car rentals. if you are in the northeast and you're planning on rent iing a r at the last minute, you'd better think again because sandy, again, has changed the fen phenomenon with that. so many people have had to rent cars because their own were damaged during the storm it has left rental car companies with a very short supply of cars they can hand out to other people. sandy, again, continues to have

all these ripple effects on impacts on things like the numbers we watch every day. that's huge for the market. the other huge thing, luke, what happens next week when congressional leaders come back and we see where things really stand when it comes to the fiscal cliff. >> that's the million-dollar question. where do things really stand? >> billion dollars. >> becky, we probably won't know until around christmastime. millions of people will hit

the roads, runways and malls over the next 48 hours. what can they expect during the thanksgiving holiday weekend? we have flooded the zone with our team, nbc's jeff rossen on travel and cnbc's courtney reagan on holiday shopping. but millions of americans will hit the road for this thanksgiving. more than 40 million to be precise. and nbc's jeff rossen is literally on the road covering the holiday travel for us. hi, jeff. how are you? >> reporter: hey, luke, and happy thanksgiving. right now we're driving on i-95 north heading out of new york city into the suburbs, connecticut and such. and as you can see we're already hitting some traffic. in fact, this is the busiest travel day. 43.6 million americans traveling today and most of us are traveling by car. 90% of travel today is by car. if you want to impress your friends, average distance 588

miles. also another interesting tidbit here. in the northeast getting a rental car is nearly impossible. thousands of cars were ruined by the floodwaters of sandy and so all of these major car companies are really down on their stock and obviously the demand is very high here near the holidays. good luck getting a rental car in the northeast. air travel, some good news there. the airports will be emptier. airfare is actually down. the average cost for a domestic ticket here around thanksgiving, $188. that is down 11% from last year. that's good news. the final way people are traveling, the final three ways, trains, buses, and cruise ships. 1.3 million americans traveling that way. as you can see, we're sitting in traffic. i think we'll get there eventually. i'm told my mom's stuffing is worth it. we'll see. by the way, the reason i'm not driving is my family doesn't trust me to drive. we have our handy producer

laura. say hi, laura. she doesn't like to talk. that's why she is a producer. she makes me talk. she is driving and this is what i like to call the don't make me come back there seat. this is like when the parent leans around, don't mejia stoma make me stop and turn it around. >> thanks so much for that report. the holiday season brings visions of family and friends spending time together but also brings visions of lots of consumer spending for big box stores. but how 0 do you know you'll get the very best deal? joining me now is cnbc's courtney reagan and, courtney, every store is opening early. people are already in line outside of best buy, like a tailgate of some sorts. this is important stuff. how do we know how to get the best deal and not to waste any precious money? >> reporter: it's the super bowl of retail. you don't want to overpay. nobody wants to do that. one way to avoid buyer's

remorse, research those prices for the big ticket items online first. many say they will price match their competitors so we did some shopping of our own to see who makes it easiest. and just so we didn't get any special treatment we went with our undercover cameras rolling. we chose this sony blu-ray dvd as our mission. a little online research shows target pricing the dvd player at $139.99. walmart is selling the same one tore $129. and best buy offers a special price that you can only see at check-out. slightly annoying but it is the cheapest by $20 at $108.99. armed with our printout from our best buy deal we make our first stop, walmart, in new jersey. we found the player in stock and asked if they would price match. so this is also at best buy but

for $109. >> okay. >> the list price here is $138. will you price match? >> yes. >> reporter: thank you. walmart made it easy. next we visited target in paramus, new jersey. you have it for $139 but i found the same dvd player online at bestbuy.com. so will you price match that? >> no. we only match the ads in the flyer. >> reporter: at first they turn our producer down, but when she presses him further, he calls the manager. >> yes, as long as you see the ad and it's from best buy and the date is from today, yes. >> reporter: so at the walmart check-out, it surprised even the associate when i went to buy the player it rang up at $98 so that beat the best buy price by $10 so they didn't have to price match but the lesson here is to ask. and if you don't get the right answer or the answer you want right away push a little further.

ask to speak to the manager. retailers will do everything they can to be competitive and to make those consumers happy. they don't want to you walk out that door without getting something. >> well, courtney, thanks so much for that report. i know you'll enjoy jim cramer's greatest hits on your new dvd player over thanksgiving. >> reporter: i will indeed, luke. >> now to bill karins who is here with the very latest on the holiday weather. bill? >> luke, that was my gift. that was my gift for you. >> the skies in d.c. look beautiful. the planes were flying. where are we getting hit here? is anyone going to have travel trouble on the roads, in the air, on the cruiseships? how are we doing? >> don't talk to someone going through chicago o'hare, midway, st. louis. dozens of flights canceled. at least two to thee hour delays. check out this amazing picture. it looks gorgeous, you just don't want to be in it. from the old sears tower down into downtown chicago. the fog is just pea soup thick all through the region.

all you can see are the very tops of the buildings there. imagine being the pilot trying to land in this. that's why we have these huge delays through o'hare and midway and this is the same scene over green bay, milwaukee, down to st. louis not to mention people on the highways driving through this so that is the big travel concern, a nightmare for people trying to get to holiday destinations from chicago all the way to st. louis. and that's just as dramatic as it gets and as troublesome as it gets. that's worse than rain, than snow, in some cases worse than ice. that fog, the area of concern is in the gray. this is where we have dense fog advisories from st. louis and springfield all the way back up anywhere near lake michigan. how bad is the visibility? we're down to about an eighth of a mile are or less in st. louis to chicago. so that's one trouble spot. also, we have a little bit of rain in the northwest, but it will slow ly improve during the day today. we will see nice weather once the fog burns off. that won't be until about noon today in the midwest. and turkey day, by the way, luke, looks nice just about

everywhere in the country. macy's day parade looks great. for you in d.c. you can get there better than fitzpatrick, 58 and sunny h. to throw that dig in there. >> that is very accurate. bill karins, have a good holiday. a happy thanksgiving to you, my friend. back to the serious situation we're monitoring in the middle east. secretary clinton is in cairo this morning meeting with egyptian president mohamed morsi who has emerged as a key mediator as the u.s. presses for a ceasefire between israel and hamas. it's a delicate balancing act for the new egyptian leader who was swept to power at the backing of the muslim brother who had who has historically been an ally of hamas. jim maceda joins us from cairo. to me this is the most fascinating subplot within the tension between israel and hamas, the role of egypt. what is mohamed morsi's role in all of this and is there any sense of agreement from the egyptians they're trying to help ease the tension? we know president obama has been

on the phone with mohamed morsi constantly over the last 48 hours. >> reporter: hi there, luke. we'll get more of an idea after secretary of state clinton meets with president morsi. she is just wrapping up that meeting. she is then going to see the foreign minister here and then give a press conference. hopefully in terms of the agreement, the second part of your question, we'll be getting some answers. in terms of morsi's role, as you say, he's a key mediator here. and if he emerges with a deal, there's no question but that this man, and keep in mind he's the former leader of the muslim brotherhood, he will emerge as a top regional power broker, that everyone will have to listen to. but the question is, will he get a deal? i mean, both sides seem to be close. they said they were close, within hours yesterday. that didn't happen. they just don't seem yet to be able to close the deal and that does give secretary of state hillary clinton's visit here

much more urgency. >> jim, and real quick, we've seen a lot of protests in egypt over the last few months in regards to their own power struggle, but just from your feeling being there on the ground, the scitizenry has obviously had their own very spirited opinions about israel for some time, mubarak had that long-standing peace agreement but, of course, he was deposed. what does the public feel about this conflict and how much pressure are they exerting on morsi? is there any fear of egyptian public protesting any type of deal? >> reporter: well, interestingly enough, there really haven't been protests of that nature. the protests that you are seeing, and they're small protests though they have been violent over the past three or four days, those are more about the ongoing problems of thrashing out a constitution here. people have not taken to the streets, and that's a very surprising thing. we haven't seen banners or protests of any kind related to support or a lack of support for

president morsi. i think there's a sense that if there is -- if he manages to get a deal, that's good for morsi. it's good for egypt and it's good for the egyptian people and that's what they're hoping for most of all. they also want to see america's involvement. it's interesting the positive reaction to secretary of state clinton's arrival here, her engagement, and the american administration's engagement in general. egyptians say that america turned a blind eye and it has for the last two administrations and it hopes that attitude is going to change now as well. back to you, luke. >> jim maceda on the ground in cairo, be sach. happy thanksgiving wishes across the atlantic. be well. and we would expect to hear from secretary clinton anytime about her meeting with egyptian president mohamed morsi when those comments become available. we hope to bring them to you live. obviously egypt will be very important mediator and player in

this between israel and hamas. our prethanksgiving panel will be here. we have the white house soup of the day. a very easy one, chicken noodle. we like chicken noodle. it's nice they don't have any turkey soups, pardon the turkey, you can't serve him in the mess hall. and don't forget to check out our website rundown.msnbc.com. i don't spend money on gasoline. i am probably going to the gas station about once a month. last time i was at a gas station was about...i would say... two months ago. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. [ male announcer ] and it's not just these owners giving the volt high praise. volt received the j.d. power and associates appeal award two years in a row. ♪

when congress returns from the thanksgiving holiday are it will have a pretty slim window to broker a deal on the fiscal cliff and indications from the opening round of negotiations, shocking, are don't bode well. let's bring in our political panel, "washington post" editorial editor ruth marcus and

po pollster fred yang. welcome, team. >> morning. >> been around here a little bit this morning. i want to play what ben bernanke said about the fiscal cliff and get your reaction on the other side. >> continuing to push off difficult policy choices will only prolong and intensify these uncertainties. moreover, while the details of whatever agreement is reached to resolve the fiscal cliff are important, the economic confidence of market participants and the general public likely will be influenced by the extent to which our political system proves able to deliver a reasonable solution with a minimum of uncertainty and delay. >> ruth, the polls tell us the american people want to see congress work together on this. president obama says he wants to. john boehner says he wants to. there you have the titans of industry in new york with their rich, mahogany furniture all saying we need to solve this crisis. yet here we are a few weeks away and we're still both sides

sticking to their negotiations. there hasn't been a lot on what specifically would you do. this is going to be tight. >> it's going to be tight and everybody should brace themselves before the fiscal cliff comes the fiscal roller coaster and it's going to look dark before either it's totally black as senator mccain likes to say or before it gets done. my bet actually is on getting things done, but i have to say what's depressing about listening to chairman bernanke is how many times we've heard those words before about the last fiscal crisis, whether it's debt ceiling or something else, it really is time for congress to show it can get something done. >> this seems to poll very well, this bipartisanship. you know it. how come there's such difficulty both sides really not willing to nudge off their sacred couch entit entitlements and taxes. >> as ruth was saying, in addition to talking about this endlessly, we're still trying to define what bipartisanship really means for both sides. it's doing more what we want to

do than what you want to do. i agree with ruth, it will get done because it has to get done. and i think rate now we're just waiting to see is last-second shot or a little sooner than that. >> bob, you're on the hill. you obviously hear the chatter like i do. when we talk about what can get done, it seems that getting something done is a blueprint to then work on something in 2013. >> yes. >> that can't necessarily inspire a ton of confidence in the process. >> with respect to the other members of the panel, i think they're going to punt most of this, because you heard speaker boehner already talking about 2013 as being the year to get tax reform done. you can punt just about everything else. you can extend the tax cuts a little bit. you can retroactively cut the tax -- bring the tax cuts back or whatever. i just think they're going to punt on this one in so many ways. they could even, you know, punt on the idea of the spending cuts as well, the automatic spending

cuts. i'm not as optimistic as anybody else about this. >> it's what they do best. come to agreement and then -- >> punt. we'll come back with our panel shortly. but trivia time. how many members of congress lost their races for re-election in 2010 but won in 2012? the answer is six. all of whom lost their re-election battles take over. representatives carol shay porter and dan maffei take the top. if you have a trivia question for us, e-mail us.

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let's bring back our panel. bob costantini, fred marcus,

ruth, and fred yang. talking about congressional ego stroking was one of the tenets that made president lincoln so successful in deeming with congress trying to get the 13th amendment through. can president obama do that this time around? would john boehner get receptive enough? i want everyone's opinion. is the legacy question enough to move boehner and obama forward on a fiscal cliff deal? >> crossed fingers. i hope so. short enough? >> boehner wants to keep his job as speaker so he has to deal with his caucus. and whether or not his caucus will be going -- ready to go along with a significant amount of compromise, obviously, you know, remains to be seen. >> i think politically they saw what happened 2 1/2 weeks ago. i think they'll be in a mood to compromise. >> let's go around the table, bob. start it off. what are you thankful for on this thafg day? >> i'm thankful i still have some twinkies in the house. thankful, truthfully, the economy is getting better so my daugter who just graduated from

college may be able to work. >> thankful for my family. it's a family affair in my house. my husband, john liebowitz, at night he's been a cranberry sauce-making maniac. so this is for you. >> oh, thank you is so much. >> happy thanksgiving. >> liebowitz cranberry sauce. >> thankful for my family, at home and extended and a country in which we have talk about our differences. >> i'm thankful i won't go hungry this thanksgiving meal, which a lot of americans will. there are a lot of charities out there for as low as $10, you can donate a thanksgiving dinner to a needy family. do that if you feel inclined. small business saturday, support your local small businesses. share your thoughts with with #whyimthankful.

ed chuck todd will be back next week. up next, chris jansing. cheer a cowboys loss tomorrow. ♪ i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios